Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 483
! ! 483 If a building is constructed there after the war, I estimate it will cost nearly thirty to forty thousand rupees. There should be some rooms designated for offices, a hall for lectures , able to accommodate one thousand to fifteen hundred women when gathering to gether for their meetings , and so on. Some rooms should serve the purpose of a religious school. There should be some [living] quarters, so that women who work in the off ices can stay there. There should also be a library. There sh ould be fifteen to twenty rooms designated for this work , as well as one hall in which to hold meetings. I estimate nearly thirty to forty thousand rupees will be spent on this building. In my view , it is not a huge undertaking for the women of our Jama'at to collect this amount. I have observed that although the women of our Jama'at are no more educated than other women, by the Grace of Allah , they possess such spirit and sincerity of sacrifice that wh enever a scheme is presented to them, it immediately becomes successful. Twenty years ago , I initiated a scheme among the women of the Jama'at for the building of the Berlin mosque. This [scheme] was incredibly success ful and they immediately raised seventy thousand rupees. I believe there exists no other group of women in India, where such a level of sacrifice exists as with in the women of our Jama ‘ at. If our numbers were equal to the smallest tribe in India, then by the Grace of God, not only our men , but today our women would offer up so much money for the sake of faith , that even the people of the richest countries of Europe would be un able to present such wealth for the sake of their faith. [In fact], they do not do so. At this time , we number four to five hundred thousand altogether, while the Sikh population, which is the smallest group in India, numbers four million. Thus , we constitute about one eighth or one tenth of their total. Yet, if our population were equal to that of the Sikhs, the women of our Jama'at would c ollect so much for the cause of [their] faith that even the wealthiest powers of Europe would not be able to raise such amounts of money for their religion. A nd [indeed] they do not do so. By the Grace of God, the spirit of sacrifice is nurtured within our Jama'at and they are capable of achieving the true faith , which is